Different Shade of Normal: A Journal of Schizophrenic Thoughts by Jacob Glidewell

Author:Jacob Glidewell [Glidewell, Jacob]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: schizophrenia mental health delusional thinking suffering and christian theology imagination mental illness
Publisher: Aspire Productions
Published: 2010-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Riding with Sam

The man in the medium gray business suit is named Sam Iamm. I noticed the irony of his name then, but he said I was not the first person since grade school to call it out to him.

Not too long ago I noticed that I always seemed to see the man in the medium gray business suit at the same point of my trek to the class I teach at the church. So, knowing full well that the man was a hallucination, I pulled over and offered him a lift.

Why not, right? He seemed hesitant at first, but one moment as I drove by that same bend in the road, I saw him standing behind the tree with his jacket hooked over his arm, and in the next moment he rode in the seat beside me. His seat belt was buckled, and his jacket folded on top of his lap.

He reminded me in both appearance and manner of William Hurt’s character from The Village. His hairline had receded somewhat on the sides and had left an exaggerated widow’s peak of longer, straw-colored hair. His ears pointed slightly at the top and stuck out through his hair on the sides.

“My name’s Jacob,” I said after a few seconds of silence.

“I know your name just as you know mine.”

His voice was soft and deep with full tones. He didn’t use contractions. No foolishness with Sam. He got straight to the point about everything or he didn’t comment at all.

“Your first name is Sam, isn’t it?” I asked. He didn’t answer. I knew I was right. “What’s your last name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Iamm,” he answered. “Sam Iamm.”

I smiled. He pronounced his name with an E, as in Ee-am, but I wondered.

“How is it spelled?” I asked.

“It is spelled like it is pronounced,” Sam sighed. “I-A-M-M. You do not have to point out the obvious. In grade school there were a lot of kids who teased me about my name. I still get it from certain jerks today as well.”

“I’m sorry. I got teased about my last name, too. People even now, adults in all other sense of the word, still tease me about it. They’re like, ‘Hey Glidewell! Do you glide well or do you just slide kinda good? Huh-huh-huh!’” I shook my head as I added, “I’ve never wanted to punch a human being so hard in the gut as when they do something idiotic like that.”

Sam nodded. “I still get it too. That is why I thought I would save you the trouble of asking, as do most moronic idiots, ‘Have you ever noticed your name is Sam I Am, like from the Dr. Seuss book?’”

“I wasn’t going to say that, Mr. Iamm, I promise. I don’t tease people about things they can’t help.”

I called him mister as I’m only twenty-seven and the man was clearly in his early forties. My father and grandfather had always taught me to respect my elders.

“That is wise,” he answered. “Of course, the best policy might be to never tease at all.

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